John Lister: Meltdown in Mental Health

John Lister is a respected journalist, academic and director of Health Emergency. In his monthly column in the Morning Star, John looks at on the Meltdown in mental health services and focuses on Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) in particular. It is an excellent article, even if you wouldn’t normally read the Morning […]

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EDP: Concern over mental health referral service in Norfolk

Campaigners raised their concerns after figures from a Freedom of Information (FoI) request revealed that the organisation had not hit its referral targets for the last five months of 2013. Figures showed that 65pc of emergency referrals received an assessment in four hours, only 17pc of urgent referral cases were contacted within 72 hours and

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33rd Day of Lent: Going without the NHS

This shocking story has been shared by ‘Ben’ (name has been changed). It sadly shows another failure caused by the inability of the post cuts, post ‘radical redesign’ Adult Mental Health Services of Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) to consistently respond to people in crisis in a timely and appropriate way. However, this

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32nd Day of Lent: Going without listening to warnings

The warnings below are from an email sent more than sixteen months ago by a carer to Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT). The email containing these quotations was sent on 22nd November 2012. This email provides evidence that the Operations Director of NSFT knew and admitted that demand for beds was rising as long ago

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29th Day of Lent: Going without beds for both husband and wife

Luke writes: “A few weeks ago an 86 year old man needed admission. He was sectioned, and after FOUR hours of phone calls a bed was eventually found… in SCUNTHORPE. Yes, the nearest available bed to Norfolk and Suffolk was SCUNTHORPE. However, there was no ambulance service available to take him, private or public. So, his

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28th Day of Lent: Going without basic numeracy skills

Abraham writes: “We all know that spending £7.3 million on redundancies when there are 361 vacancies at Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) is an outrageous scandal which threatens the safe delivery of services to the vulnerable, as well as an extraordinary waste of money. Sometimes, it is whispered that the purpose of the

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26th Day of Lent: Going without an ‘enhanced CRHT’

Sebastian writes: “The Central Cluster CRHT have had to give up nine band six staff, those who are most experienced and qualified in the Team; they carry out the risk assessments and provide leadership to the Team. They have all been downgraded to Band five under a dubious process; four of them have been transferred

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Audio: BBC Radio 4 World at One on the Mental Health Crisis at Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT)

  http://norfolksuffolkmentalhealthcrisis.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/BBC-Radio-4-World-at-One-4-April-2014-Crisis-at-NSFT.mp3   Isn’t it incredible that NHS England couldn’t find anybody to talk on national radio about the crisis in mental health?

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EDP: Mental health campaigners complete walk from Ipswich to Norwich

Campaign member Emma Corlett of Unison, who is also a Norfolk County Councillor and member champion for mental health, said they had received “unanimous support” from people during the two day walk. She added that they wanted to raise the profile of mental health cuts in Norfolk and Suffolk. “We met people who talked about

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25th Day of Lent: Going without an assigned care co-ordinator

William writes: “Due to team members leaving & maternity cover, we’re being told to move patients to a ‘team-held pot’ rather with duty expected to pick them up rather than allocating a care co-ordinator. It is an unusual practice and who is accountable? As duty is covered by existing team members, it is still adding

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23rd Day of Lent: Going without the support of our own MPs – Open Letter

Dear Norfolk & Suffolk Members of Parliament, We are a group of mental health staff, people who use services and members of the community who are deeply concerned about the impact of cuts forced on our mental health trust. Today we are walking side by side from the office of Ben Gummer MP in Ipswich

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22nd Day of Lent: Going without… family life and school

Elizabeth writes: “I live with my parents and younger brother in rural Norfolk. During the summer last year, my older brother, who is under the care of the Youth Team came back to live with us, following problems with his land-lady. During early December, we had to call the police out, and then, in mid-December,

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18th Day of Lent: Going without respite beds, going with fake extra capacity

John writes: “Ashcroft is a female residential unit which provides support to people who, due to mental health difficulties, need periods of residential care. For many, regular planned respite for short periods forms a key part of their care plan. This respite enables them to build their resilience, access therapies and talk to familiar staff

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Gallery: Demonstration against Norman Lamb’s ‘cashless concordat’

A spokesman for the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk & Suffolk said: “Today, members of the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk & Suffolk tried to engage Norman Lamb about the crises in mental health provision. Rather than talk to campaigners, he simply put his head down sheepishly and sought

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16th Day of Lent: Going without care in the community

Ruth writes: “As a carer it is a relief to be able to access the campaign’s website to access information about the impact of perceived cuts in funding. We carers need to prepare ourselves for a future where the care of loved ones living in the community with life-long mental health needs will receive a

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Sham Consultation: Last chance to pillory the NSFT Board – Tuesday 25/3/2014 – Beccles

Please, please do attend the sham consultation in Beccles on Tuesday 25th March 2014 between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. The acting Chief Executive, Medical Director and Operations Director of Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) are being forced to publicly account for their ‘radical redesign’ for the last time by Great Yarmouth & Waveney

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Protest: Friday 21st March – Assemble 1130 at Norman Lamb’s ‘Concordat’ Launch – Carrow Road

This leaflet can be downloaded as a pdf to print and distribute. Look out for our placards and banners and bring a friend! Norman Lamb, MP for North Norfolk and Minister of State at the Department of Health, is launching the Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat this week. However, mental health services – both nationally

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15th Day of Lent: Going without 25% of already overstretched commmunity teams

Karen says: “Gateway House, our ‘The Office’-esque building on a business park in Wymondham which has no facilities whatsoever to see service users, is currently home to leaving cards, bunting and endless leaving do’s. By the end of March, around one quarter of our colleagues in already overstretched community teams will have been paid to

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EDP – Graphic: Shock over mental health trust’s £5m redundancy bill

If ever there was a time to reward great journalism with a physical newspaper purchase, today is it – and the double page spread graphic exposure of NSFTCrisis is brilliant – frame-it-on-the-wall good. Award-winning Adam Gretton in the EDP reports: “The mental health trust for Norfolk and Suffolk, which is trying to fill hundreds of

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